


To Corrupt a Padawan

by Ihsan997



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Abduction, Accidental Death, Betrayal, Bittersweet Ending, Bullying, Character Death, Claustrophobia, Coming of Age, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fear, Fear of Discovery, Gen, Hiding, Hiding Medical Issues, Home Invasion, Horror, Invasion of Privacy, Jedi, Jedi Knights, Jedi Training, Lightsaber Battles, Loss of Innocence, Manipulation, Metamorphosis, Mind Manipulation, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Psychological Horror, Sith, Sith Empire, Sith Pureblood, Sith Shenanigans, Surprise Ending, Teenagers, Transformation, Treason
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-06-28 21:57:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15715875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihsan997/pseuds/Ihsan997
Summary: After Nathema, with the Alliance reduced in status, the Empire and Republic prepare for war. For one group of young Jedi students on a trip, that preparation ends sooner than expected. Lines are drawn, bonds are broken, and the aspiring Force-users learn more about each other and themselves than they might want to.Told with the perspective that my main is the antagonist rather than protagonist. Readers searching for clear cut happy endings may be disappointed.





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in 3630 BBY in the aftermath of patch 5.9.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to be an idyllic learning trip for a group of aspiring Padawans. Little do they know that the galaxy is more dangerous than they thought...

A Wanderer-class transport ship floated at the edge of Balmorra’s orbit. Ship staff ran routine checks after the exit from hyperspace ensuring that the ship and its crew had arrived intact.

Within the public viewing corridor, the five VIPs of the voyage looked out the windows toward the blue and green planet. A mixed group of teenagers from various species, the former younglings chatted enthusiastically about their first trip outside of Tython. Hope and dreams shined in their eyes and reflected in their speech, and the mix of personalities meshed more than it clashed.

One of them, a twi’lek girl, pressed her face against the window like an oversized child. “I don’t think this has ever happened before; nobody is allowed on offworld field trips before a master is chosen!”

A human boy leaned against the glass as if he were too cool for school. “Maybe his is how we earn our next stages. Like, maybe they’re testing us to see if we can become Padawans or not.”

“That’s not how it works,” said another one of the girls, a Cathar with a mottled grey and black complexion.

“Says who?”

“Says the HoloNet, so it cant be wrong.”

“I like to talk about things that everybody agrees on,” the starry-eyed twi’lek girl said while staring at Balmorra.

A Miraluka, slightly older than the others, put her arms around the disagreeable duo before their conversation could escalate. “I think we should trust in our teachers and wait to see how things turn out,” she said while trying to get the Cathar and human to spin in a circle with her. “Life is better wish surprises.”

“That doesn’t sound very peaceful,” the human said with his eyes closed (to avoid vertigo).

“Surprises can be super peaceful,” said the Cathar. “This one time, I read on this Holosite-“

“Aaaanyway, we ought to check if the masters will share the itinerary with us,” the Miraluka said.

Silent until then, a second twi’lek stared out of the opposite window. Less jovial than the others, his young face was marked with concern. The human, dizzy from being spun, wobbled over to him.

“What’s the matter with you?”

The young Rutian shook his head. “I had that dream again,” he said while looking out the window.

“Come on, man, you need to let it go.”

“Dreams have meanings,” the Cathar said, determine to contradict the human at every turn.

“Maybe this one means you don’t like the color red and that’s that,” the human said, more to the Cathar than the Rutian twi’lek.

He wasn’t quite convinced. “It’s always those two red eyes...they stare at me in the dark, but this time...I felt like it wasn’t another person. I felt like it was a mirror the whole time.”

Ever the group’s surrogate big sister, the Miraluka interjected a second time and pulled their Rutian friend back toward the rest of the group. “There’s another reason why we should check with our teachers since we’re out of hyperspace. Speaking of which-“

“Is that a Sith ship?” the twi’lek girl asked.

A lull in the conversation of at least five seconds hung over them as all eyes slowly shifted to where she was looking. Sure enough, the familiar U-shape of many Imperial starships greeted them, albeit at a high speed. The five students all froze, mesmerized by how closely the Imperial corvette was flying to them.

“Well...the Eternal Alliance is the main power in the galaxy, even after Nathema...right? I mean, the Empire wouldn’t dare act out of line...right?” the twi’lek girl asked out loud.

The first round of laser fire rocked the transport ship, causing the floor to shake beneath their feet. A minor alarm triggered and alerted all personnel aboard to report for active duty.

“Maybe this is part of our tests?” the human asked nervously.

“No way, I read about our next tests on the HoloNet. It didn’t say anything about-“

The doors at both ends of the corridor opened, allowing a pair of Republic troopers to rush through. The Miraluka tapped one of them on the arm as he passed by. “Excuse me, is this part of the simulation?” she asked.

The trooper did a double take even as he was jogging away. “This is no test, they opened fire. Our communications have been hacked and we can’t signal for help. This is for real.” He hurried away to the depths of the starship, leaving the five youths to stare at each other in worried silence.

The intercom crackled despite their communications having been hacked. An accented voice that definitely wasn’t speaking in a Republic dialect of Basic addresses the whole vessel.

“You have trespassed the orbit of the Imperial territory of Balmorra. Prepare to be boarded.”

The intercom then sparked as if it had been remotely ordered to self-destruct, cutting off people from one part of the ship to another. The minor alarm was even cut off, leaving them in silence until the ship quaked again for an extended period of a few seconds. The Cathar youth crouched and looked from the bottom of the window to see the corner of the Imperial ship positioned a level below them.

“That’s where the airlock is!” she exclaimed. “I’ve read about this, minimal fire exchanged means a boarding operation!”

“We don’t...we don’t know that for sure,” the human said, though he didn’t sound like even he believed that.

Without even speaking to the others, the twi’lek girl hurried away, running after the troopers who’d passed by. “Wait! We don’t know for sure what’s happening!” the Miraluka said, but to no avail.

The Cathar began to follow. “Come on, they might need our help! Even if this isn’t a test, we can make it into one!”

“But we haven’t received orders from masters Kuvron and Gabred-“

The Miraluka was cut off when more troopers rushed by in the same direction. “They didn’t receive orders either,” the Cathar said, “but they’re still going. We have to help!”

The Cathar grabbed the Miraluka and the human by the hands and pulled them along with her. As reluctant as they were, they held on and ran with her, determined to stand by their compatriots in the face of a hostile enemy. Only the Rutian twi’lek lagged behind, hesitating before a final trooper passing him by spurred him to follow.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” he sighed to the trooper who didn’t even know him.


	2. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The galaxy is a lot bigger than our group of padawans seems to think.

Ally rushed through the final corridor before the main foyer of the ship’s hangar level. Her fellow aspirant Padawans trailing behind her, she mixed in with the dozens of troopers who were rushing to meet the supposed boarding party. She’d never felt so nervous...she’d never felt so alive. As much as she valued the teachings on peace, she couldn’t deny the sense of excitement she felt. After a childhood of only interacting with other Jedi, she relished the chance to see true defense of the Republic firsthand.

Joguatha, the bossy Miraluka whom she avoided, caught up to her as they squeezed in between troopers to pass through the last automatic doors into the foyer. The two of them had similar personalities, and both had been wary of one another so as to avoid competition. Joguatha unfortunately proved less apt at such avoidance.

“Are you sure we should be here?” the Miraluka asked while entering the foyer with her regardless. Troopers were lined up in formation, taking positions behind shipping crates and columns under the direction of a lieutenant in the center of the room, and the pair mixed with the troops as they spoke. “This isn’t a part of the simulation; our elders hadn’t informed us of any such practice for us on this trip, either.”

The troopers paid them little mind while taking up positions, and Ally led them to a position in a corner where they were unlikely to be seen by the lieutenant. The Twi’lek had been dreading the inevitable clash - she and Joguatha were both insistent and extroverted, but Ally still had doubts about her own ability to challenge the Miraluka in the back of her mind. The tug at her tunic sleeve forced her hand, figuratively speaking.

“We’re Jedi; even if we’re still in training, we carry this mantle. We can’t run away when our compatriots need help.”

As if Ally’s anxiety hadn’t risen enough, the other resident alpha female in their group stepped in front of her so they could speak face to face. Even without eyes, Joguatha had a way of making her gaze very apparent. “A true Jedi knows when to lay down their arms. We can’t contribute like trained marines can, and our presence could distract them. Please.” Joguatha paused and tried to take Ally by the wrist. “We need to turn back.”

Heart thumping in her chest, Ally felt the impending argument coming, right in front of a group of people. Emotion she’d tried to tame welled up inside of her, and she pulled her wrist out of Joguatha’s hand. The two of them both fought to remain civil, but neither one of them were willing to back down.

Their decision was made for them when the others arrived, however, saving them both from internal conflict.

The human boy arrived first, practically standing in between them and oblivious to what he’d interrupted. “Hey, is this where we get to see the bad guys get taken down?” he whispered while a trooper looked back and eyed them suspiciously.

The Cathar girl who never gave her name followed swiftly and nearly toppled him over. The Rutian followed cautiously but stood alone near the entrance, speaking to nobody as he watched the troopers embed themselves and hone their guns on the final door sealing the airlock from the rest of the ship.

Their decision having been made for them, Joguatha backed off for the time being and resigned herself to having lost.

Delighted that she’d won by luck, Ally latched on to the human. “Yes, this is where it happens. They might need our support!”

“How did you all find your way here?”

The deep, noble sounding voice silenced them all, catching all except the Rutian Twi’lek by surprise. Kuvron, a Togruta who’d taught them all at various times on Tython, had found them all hiding in the shadows of a corner in the wide foyer. His aura in the Force made clear that he wasn’t pleased.

“Master Kuvron, we’re so glad you’re here!” Joguatha said in subdued excitement. “We’re not sure what to do!”

Ally grimaced at her classmate’s choice of words, but there was little she could do now that one of their most senior teachers and an experienced consular had arrived. The other aspirants exuded a combination of relief and apprehension, signaling that there was no consensus among them.

Calm and determined even in the face of danger, Kuvron’s expression didn’t change. “What is about to take place is not for your eyes,” he said to the entire group. Ally felt the hearts of at least two others sink, giving her a sliver of hope even in the face of an authority figure.

“Isn’t near you and the others the safest place for us right now?” Ally asked, her eagerness overriding her reason.

To Joguatha’s chagrin, the old Togruta paused and actually considered her words for a moment. As he thought, another human, much older than the boy next to Ally, arrived at Kuvron’s side, curtly receiving the bows from all the young hopefuls before she turned to her peer.

“She has a point, Kuvron,” said Hela to he fellow Jedi master.

The Jedi consular continued to ponder the suggestion, all while the troopers organized themselves into defensive positions in the background. Addressing Hela rather than their students, he sought a compromise. “For now, that may be the case. Should containment of these scoundrels take more time than we estimate, though, these young ones will need an exit to wait out the resolution.”

“We can use the main corridor to take the elevator to the bridge - it’s the most remote section of the ship,” said the Cathar girl while reading a projection of the ship’s schematics on her wristwatch.

Hela continued to look up at Kuvron, and the Togruta relented. “I believe that’s a sufficient agreement,” he said to his colleague before turning to the students. “All of you, this is a bond of trust between us. If either of us gives the signal, leave this place and wait for us on the bridge.”

A resounding ‘yes’ was the answer from Ally, the human boy, and the Cathar girl, with a reluctant confirmation from Joguatha. The Rutian boy nodded but otherwise concealed himself near the exit. Gracious only in victory, Ally took her turn to take Joguatha by the wrist. Just as she was about to ask for no grudges to be borne, the lights went out.

Gasps wafted through the air, and the trooper lieutenant reacted poorly. “Do not let them get the best of you!” the armored commando ordered roughly at the numerous troops poised around the airlock.

Hela ignited her lightsaber, illuminating the foyer and hushing the whispers among the troops. As the students backed into their corner, behind the column, Joguatha allowed Ally to hold on to her wrist, and the human and Cathar students huddled close to them. And then...everyone waited.

Aside form the hum of Hela’s weapon, not a sound was to be heard. The Republic soldiers were resolute in their silence, adding to the sense of foreboding that hung over the audial calmness. Not a peep was to be heard, not even boots shifting on the floor or breath being held, as everyone waited in the dark. For what, they did not know; every one of the hopeful future Padawans hid in anxious quiet, veins throbbing and minds racing.

To punctuate the oppressive silence, a single, lonesome, inexplicably soft sound began to rattle everyone’s nerves.

Weak at first, the light hissing resembled that of the ohpidian species slithering across numerous planetary systems. Like gas running through a pipe, the sound flowed evenly against the airlock, increasing in volume alongside the glowing light encircling the door.

“It’s a door-cutting heat ray!” the Cathar girl gasped, her voice only loud enough for her fellow students to hear.

The circle around the airlock lit up, glistening in the dark even after the hissing noise stopped. What came next caused half of the people in the foyer to jump.

DING

The airlock shook as a strong presence beat against it, causing the floor of the foyer to shake. And then...nothing.

DING

The second time was louder, yet the floor shook less, and a number of troopers deactivated the safety locks on their weapons.

And then...all was quiet again.

Despite the heated edges of the door, a noticeable hill filled the air. Apprehension shared by them all over what lurked behind the door crackled amongst them like an exposed cable, torturing the troopers and students alike as none of them found a comfortable waiting position. Sweat beaded and muscles cramped as the airlock laid still, almost as if whoever had assaulted their ship had left.

DING

A lone ensign began to cry in the dark, her voice adding to everyone’s levels of stress and worry. A few of the troops consoled her, but the domino effect had already begun. One by one, everyone in the foyer felt the unnatural sense of dread attempting to infect them, and even the Force-sensitive students felt the invisible claws scraping at the brain stems.

“Look out!” the trooper lieutenant yelled just before all hell broke loose.

The final bang emitted from the airlock, sending a flash of molten durasteel into everyone’s field of vision as an unidentified flying object was illuminated by a light source from the airlock. By the time the troopers had realized that the airlock could only be revealed if the door had been removed, it was already flying straight through the foyer.

Orders were yelled and metal screeched as a rush of wind tickled the students’ faces, and the floor shook again when the door to the main corridor was deafeningly popped out of its frame. Cartons toppled over and limp bodies flew in the wake of the thrown airlock door, scattering people and objects across the foyer. Still glowing from the heat, the airlock door became wedged in the passage of escape to the hangar level’s corridor, allowing more light to creep inside. Injured troopers writhed on the floor, their armor cracked by the sudden impact. Their uninjured comrades rushed to either take positions behind the undamaged carton stacks and forklifts, or to aid their less agile fellows.

Before the students or the masters could react, shots were fired from the airlock. The boarding party had finally broken through.


	3. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you do when there is no safe space?

Pandemonium ensued as the injured and weak were sniped at from the airlock, along with able-bodied troopers who suffered for their choice to lend a helping hand. Black clad villains pushed aggressively into the foyer, intimidating the Republic troopers who’d found cover from fire into remaining out of the center.

This time, it was Ally’s turn to intervene against the wishes of her rival. Joguatha dove toward the floor, trying to telekinetically pull the casualties away from the cruelly slow deaths meted out by the invaders. Ally grabbed the Miraluka, holding Joguatha back from the danger zone.

“Someone has to help!” Joguatha yelled over the sound of the first Republic troopers returning fire.

“You’ll be shot, you fool!” Ally replied.

“Being shot to help others is what a true Jedi would do; being shot only to gawk at what isn’t for me to see is what’s foolish.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ally asked Joguatha curtly.

Visibly perturbed, Joguatha grabbed Ally’s hand and yanked it off of her arm. The two bossiest personalities in the group stared at each other for a few tense seconds, broken apart only by the Cathar girl standing in between them and the sight of Hela stepping directly into the line of fire.

Laser blasts dissipated into sparks all around her as a wispy barrier swirled around the human Jedi. The Cathar girl gasped in awe as Hela held her hands up, willing the enemy fire to evaporate if it struck near her. Kovrun ran behind her, Force-pulling many of the injured troopers to safety while the human boy clapped.

A strange, scratchy noise began to pass in between the black clad invaders. Akin to the squaking of carrion-eating avians, the apparent language was being spoken by the antagonists. The irritated villains pressed their attack, shooting the ceiling above Hela’s head until a panel collapsed. Deftly dodging the debris, Hela lost her concentration and pulled back, bringing as many of the injured with her as possible.

The students dove behind hard cover alongside the remaining able-bodied troopers, both to save themselves and catch a glimpse of the evildoers who’d already ended a few lives in the first few minutes of the conflict. Near-human despite their awful, grating speech, the creatures were a mixture of deathly white skin and black tattoos, and despite their alien heritage, their armor most definitely bore Imperial insignias.

Before they could steal and more glimpses, a laser blast exploded near a few of the students. They yelled and hit the floor alongside a few troopers, all of them living except for one. The brave man fell to his back, his helmet smoldering from a direct hit through his glass visor pane. Joguatha felt her heart smoldering as well, and she fell to the dead body even as the troopers around them fought back against the Imperial invaders.

Burning so much that it almost felt numb, her heart beat far too quickly, and she found herself at a loss for words. Her mind drew up a blank, and she struggled to deny that she felt anything in order to maintain her peace despite the conflict inside of her. The human boy pulled her away from the dead body, helping her to conceal herself again even as surviving troopers fled from cover and took up positions further back in the foyer, closer to the back wall.

When the shuffling of boots ceased, so did the blaster rifles, and that eerie, detested silence attempted to dominate again. “Hold your positions!” the lieutenant ordered from a place much closer to the students.

“We’re losing ground,” the Cathar girl whispered.

“Impossible!” the human boy replied before being shushed by one of the troopers.

“Something is coming,” she said without listening to him, or the trooper who tried to keep her quiet again. “I feel it in my bones.”

The air grew cold again, and the students all shivered. None of the strange albino invaders moved or even spoke, but there was a great evil watching them; they could all sense it. Even the troopers, who weren’t Force-sensitive, fidgeted and became visibly nervous.

Despite the great danger they’d all just been in, Kuvron stood up from the metal container he’d taken cover behind. The Togruta walked away from the safe area near the damaged escape passage, moving to the center of the foyer where Ally could see him staring down a cloaked figure, only in a much more epic way than she and Joguatha had done with each other.

“I demand to know who’s responsible for the murder of our crew members,” Kuvron told the hooded figure. Stalwart even in the face of dangerous strangers, the Togruta continued the stare down, and Ally could sense that the Imperials wouldn’t open fire on him.

Tall and broad shouldered, the dark figure exuded an unnerving sense of dread by merely existing. Negative energy pricked at every pore of the skin of every person in the foyer, issuing a very real threat without even acting or speaking. Hostile and aggressive even in the way he stood when motionless, the cloaked figure barely even moved his arms, yet he pushed every trooper to take aim at him when he rotated his wrist ever so slightly.

Two red eyes glowed in the half-darkness, accentuating the deep voice which put anyone who heard it on the defensive with its crisp, almost dictatorial clarity.

“I’ve come to issue a challenge to trespassers in an Imperial star system,” the obvious Sith said, holding the whole wide room’s attention.

Calm yet firm beyond belief, the Jedi consular finally spoke with a threat of his own in his tone. “Balmorra hasn’t pledged allegiance to your Empire, Sith; you’re now guilty of murdering several brave, honest troopers in cold blood-“

“You and Hela aren’t the only Jedi here,” the Sith said, cutting off the Jedi’s sentence. The Cathar girl gasped, but master Hela wasn’t intimidated, and she joined her fellow Jedi in the center of the area.

“Your research on us impressed no one, Sith. If you’ll register no plea, then we’ll be forced to dispense justice summarily; you’ve left us no choice with your heinous crime.”

Unmoved, their antagonist began to peer around into the barely lit foyer. “Master Gabred is here, isn’t he?” The Sith was clearly toying with them, but the way he seemed to know who exactly was in the ship caused a few of the observers to shudder.

To the joy of the troopers and the applause of the human student, the third resident Jedi master revealed himself. Emerging from the shadows, Gabred, a strapping Miraluka man even bigger than the Sith, strode out alongside his two companions.

“This ends now, Sith; our soldiers’ lives aren’t a game,” Gabred said in a voice so commanding that even the Cathar girl calmed down.

Unperturbed by the presence of three Jedi, the Sith casually pulled his hood down to reveal the demonic-faced helmet he wore. The two red eyes glowered at the Jedi.

“This isn’t a game; it’s a challenge for all three of you against me,” the Sith said in that unwavering voice so creepy in its perfect enunciation. “Defeat me, and my crew will surrender to Republic custody; fall to me, and they will carry out their orders; refuse, and we won’t stop until my side or yours has been wiped out.”

“You’re mad!” Hela scolded.

“Sith, there are three of us against you. Even were it one, you would lose,” Gabred said in an almost sympathetic tone. “Surrender now and save your crew.”

Kuvron, the oldest of the trio, shook his head. “We speak to a being behind redemption; I’ve not felt true evil like this in a very long time.” The Togruta ignited his double-sided lightsaber to the awe-filled gasps of the troopers. “We have to end this now; every moment he stalls us is another moment in which our crew is in danger.”

Murmurs erupted again, and the trooper lieutenant stood up. Hela noticed the man’s apprehension and turned her head to him. “This is our fight; remain only to ensure that we’re not double crossed. Don’t intervene as long as his crew stands down.”

Ally’s pulse jumped into her throat. “This is for real!” she whispered, fingers trembling in anticipation.

“This is crazy, I’ve never seen anything like this,” the human boy whispered with even more nervousness laced in his voice. Joguatha didn’t hide her displeasure, and she pulled the human back behind a crate with her; Ally resisted her attempt and remained crouching next to the troopers who were watching from soft cover.

The Jedi formed a triangle around the Sith, sending tremors of anxiety through their crew with every step. Their calmness couldn’t prove infectious enough, and the way the cloaked warrior of the dark side refused to take a defensive stance only raised the suspicion and worry of everyone observing. Gabred, walking tall like an ancient lumberjack, moved directly behind the Sith, finally igniting his own two lightsabers and casting even more flickering light into the center of the foyer. Like a battleground arena, the grating on the floor formed a stage where all eyes were trained, and the weight of a conflict much more important than that of a simple duel pressed onto the aspiring Padawans.

Hela looked upon their opponent with a faint tinge of regret which broke through her otherwise emotionless visage. “You’ve sealed your own fate; I wish you’d chosen differently,” the older human said while channeling her energy. The hum of her power lacked the peaceful effect on her troops which she may have hoped for, instead causing them to shield their eyes in expectation of a summary execution before their eyes. Gabred raised his lightsabers high in the air, preparing for a mighty backstab on an opponent who bizarrely refused to protect himself. The alien Imperials chattered in their grotesque speech again, revealing that they were just as concerned with the scene playing out in the middle of everyone.

At the very last second, an upset occurred so quickly that troopers on both sides openly gagged and gasped, and the Cathar girl screamed.

Just as Gabred brought down his dual-wielded weapons, the Sith spun around halfway and fell sideways into the large man. A fierce uppercut caught the Miraluka beneath the chin, bringing him to his knees as his lightsabers cut wildly into the air. By the time Hela had attempted to Force-pull the Sith away, the latter had Force-pushed Kuvron into her. The Togruta’s attempt to strike the Sith resulted in his weapon injuring Hela’s arm instead.

“Oh my mmmffff!”

The Cathar girl’s outburst was stopped when Joguatha put a hand over her mouth. Though no less shocked, the latter knew better than the former that announcing their presence to the Imperials could only make the situation worse. “The Force is with them,” Joguatha nervously whispered to both her classmate and herself.

Lights flashed as all three Jedi regrouped. Even when burned and smoking, Hela had the wherewithal to telekinetically pull Gabred to safety. Her attempt to push the Sith failed, however, and there was a noticeable aberration in the Force when her attempt merely broke around her target like a river parting around a large rock.

A grunt emitted from the ancient mask and the Sith rushed to meet Kuvron’s charge. Unarmed yet dangerous, the Sith grabbed the Togruta’s lightsaber hilt in the middle, twisting both the hilt and the arm holding it and swinging Kuvron around. When Kuvron refused to let go, the Sith bullied him across the floor, twisting until the Togruta’s wrist popped. Gabred regained a second wind and intervened, leaping for the Sith but pulling his shot when Kuvron was dragged in the way as a living shield. Hela pulled Kuvron to safety only for the Sith to capitalize on Gabred’s stumbling and finally ignite his own red lightsaber. The temperature in the foyer dropped even more regardless of the red weapon’s heat.

Despite being physically smaller than the Miraluka man, the Sith swung harder, displaying perfect form and a rage that made every strike a potential deathblow. Gabred deflected the first blow but was knocked back, nearly turning away from the power behind the Sith’s technique. The second blow knocked one weapon from Gabred’s hand only for Hela to pull her comrade away once more. This time, Kuvron tried to Force-push the Sith, but the villain’s sheer stubbornness resulted in a rush of air and kinetic energy sweeping around him harmlessly.

Two red eyes turned to the Togruta and human Jedi, both of them lightly injured. Hate burned on to them and every sentient being in their general direction, and the two of them braced themselves for the impact. Neither of them had counted on their opponent’s swift situational awareness until they saw Gabred rush into his own end.

Screams rang out among the students, finally revealing their position when Gabred leapt to cut down the Sith from behind yet fell limp over his target’s shoulders. The electric hum of the red lightsaber sparked as it stuck out behind him, once again as still as the Sith who stared at his two other injured opponents. Gabred’s lightsaber hung in the air, frozen in mid swing for a few seconds as the Miraluka’s plan was foiled. Too shocked to even gasp, the troopers lowered their rifles and fell into denial as Gabred finally dropped the weapon, laying limp over the Sith’s back like a sentient cape. For a few seconds, the Sith remained standing with Gabred’s arms falling over his shoulders like a scarf, letting his lightsaber remain inside of the Miraluka’s abdomen to further cauterize the digestive system.

Finally deactivating the red lightsaber, the Sith allowed Gabred’s body to fall from his back. The once noble, physically imposing Miraluka hit the floor hard, shaking the grating beneath his weight. Mere minutes from dying, Gabred said nothing as he looked to the ceiling in an attempt to find peace. Joguatha pulled the human and Cathar students into her arms, pulling them away so they wouldn’t have to see the final moments. Ally couldn’t peel her eyes away, mentally sifting through every way she could pretend that Gabred was merely hurt and tricking their oppressor, and failing in every attempt.

Reigniting his lightsaber, the Sith caused dozens of hearts to palpitate and skip beats as his anger burned in the entire vicinity. “Disappointing,” he ground out spitefully.

The trooper lieutenant argued with his soldiers to prevent them from intervening, but even he couldn’t hide the dismay in his voice. The Sith dashed to the two survivors, deflecting both of their attacks repeatedly and allowing them to desperately stage a comeback. The students began to notice gaps in the combat where the Sith has clear openings against their teachers and restrained himself. Almost toying with them, he allowed the duel to drag out for a few more moments before finally going on the offensive.

The two Jedi were pushed downwards rather than knocked around, as if the Sith wanted them to kneel. Beating his weapon onto theirs, he quickly wore them out, saying not a word as he filled the room with sparks from lightsabers clashing. In his fervor, he struck Kuvron’s good arm seemingly by accident, disabling the Togruta before viciously slashing both of Kuvron’s thighs. Tunic burning and weapon cast aside, Kuvron collapsed and yielded, unable to even push himself up. Hela was next as the Sith hit her so hard that she dropped her lightsaber when she blocked, leaving her open for him to stab her non-fatally in the hip. Her attempt to set up a Force barrier led to the Sith striking Kuvron across the back to break her concentration. Her shocked protest caused her to drop her guard, and a slash to her arm followed and dropped her to the ground.

Panting and broken, the two Jedi laid on the ground at the Sith’s feet, Gabred’s last breaths forgotten in the melee. Ally’s obsession with witnessing the fight was broken, and she clasped her hands over her face and whimpered as the sight of her teachers’ defeat ripped her heart in two. Even Joguatha, as mature beyond her years as she was, couldn’t help but cast her Force gaze away upon hearing the sounds of defeat from her masters. She hugged her two classmates to her like her children, yet she felt as helpless as they did.

The trooper lieutenant stood up and muttered curses as he jabbed a finger at the Sith. “War criminal!” he hissed.

Dismissive as one would be with an insect outside a window, the Sith sighed and waved an unconcerned hand. “There are five Padawan hopefuls on this ship; they belong to me,” the Sith said casually to his alien boarding troops, callously unaware of the intense, muscle spasm inducing terror he’d injected into the students. The Rutian Twi’lek boy, heretofore silent and motionless, let out a shuddering gasp upon the revelation that the Sith had been aware of their presence the whole time.

Turning back toward the Republic troopers, the Sith waved for his own crew to advance. “Anyone not Force-sensitive belongs to you,” he told his pasty-skinned followers. Before the lieutenant could even yell for his troops to hit the deck, the Imperial boarding party already began to shoot.

All five students scrambled for cover as laser blasts exploded on both sides. Ally and Joguatha pulled the others behind them, even the traumatized Rutian. They all caught one last glimpse of Hela before the Sith lifted her in one hand and Kuvron in the other.

“Run!” Hela ordered through blood-drenched teeth.


	4. Nicram

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Survival of the fittest isn’t pretty.

Falling over each other, the students scrambled for the exit. Another door had been lodged in the passageway, forcing them to crawl over it to avoid the firefight in the foyer. Battle cries and formation orders filled the air behind them, mixing in with the noise and heat of laser beams. A random ensign from the ship’s non-combat crew tried to crawl in behind them.

As other students fell to the floor on the other side of the wedged door, Joguatha tried to help the ensign flee with them. She clasped the young man’s gloved hand and pulled him up, only to be shocked beyond belief at how quickly the Imperial boarding party had swept across the foyer from end to end.

“Noooooo!” the ensign screamed as one of the alien Imperials grabbed him. A retractable blade extended from the albino man’s gauntlet, and Joguatha fought to pull the pleading ensign away from his tormentor. Tapping into the Force, she pulled with all her might and ended up falling backward out of the passage so fast that she felt nauseous. Blood splattered on her clothes when she hit the floor hard, dripping onto the floor even more when she tossed away the severed, gloved hand she’d been left with.

In a role reversal compared to mere moments prior, the human boy grabbed Joguatha by the arm pulled her away, leaving the barely-visible firefight on the other side of the debris-littered exit from the foyer. “Hurry, we can still get to the bridge!” he said urgently, though he stumbled so much that she ended up helping him run down the hall. Down at the far end, they saw a curving path which led to the elevator area, and the four of them dashed for it.

“Wait, we’re missing someone!” Joguatha said when she noticed that the Rutian boy was gone.

His fellow Twi’lek spoke up, already ahead of the others. “He climbed through an air vent, forget about him!”

“Ally, we can’t just leave him!” Joguatha shot back, but Ally didn’t listen. The sound of the door wedged in the passage echoed down the hall, and the four of them piled into the elevator. “There is no emotion; there is only peace.” Joguatha tried to operate the elevator both by voice command and manually, only to find it unresponsive. “It’s been hacked!”

“Impossible - modern starships maintain closed transmission channels!” the Cathar girl said, though Ally seemed upset.

“They hacke it, it’s been hacked, stop talking about HoloNet rubbish and find a solution!”

The Cathar appeared genuinely hurt, and Joguatha pulled Ally away. “There is no emotion; there is only-“

The Miraluka’s words were interrupted by the swift approach of another armored person, and all four of them yelped and clung to each other at the sound. The ragged breathing of an injured soldier met their ears, and a wounded Republic trooper stumbled into their view.

“There’s an air vent right here - jump in like your friend,” the trooper panted. “I’ll help you up!”

Everything was happening so fast, and Joguatha held her classmates back from their attempt to rush over to the vent in the ceiling. “Wait, we all need to calm down; what will you do, sir?”

The trooper shook his head. “I’ll do my job, Padawan; the Republic needs you all to survive!” When Ally pushed past her, Joguatha has no further possibility to protest, and she watched as the injured man lifted her on his back so she could jump up and grab onto the vent’s grating.

“Ah! I think I have it!” Ally dangled from the grating until the trooper and the human boy supported her feet. The cover dropped to the floor and the Twi’lek climbed up, no regrets at all appearing in her aura. The Cathar girl began to climb up as well, but her ascent was sundered when more footsteps could be heard approaching.

“They’re coming!” the felinoid student said frantically while nearly losing her grip. The trooper struggled to brace her by the shoe, and Joguatha took his place so he could rest his aching side beneath cracked armor.

The man shook his head again. “They’re already here,” he sighed in noble resignation. He pulled out a vibroknife, but Joguatha was too preoccupied lifting the clumsy Cathar into the vent to prevent him.

Everyone’s fear spiked when their two pursuers revealed themselves. Clad in jet black armor tarnished with spray paint of slogans and damage from the firefight, two of the paper white Imperials pulled around the corner. The short one wore scars on the side of her head while the tall one would have appeared elegant had she not radiated a sense of vile fury. The trooper tried to stab the big one, who casually grabbed his hand and crushed his fingers until they broke and the vibroknife sparked out. The small one callously shot him in the head with a pistol just as the panicking Cathar girl climbed into the vent.

“Go, go!” the human boy yelled, lifting Joguatha against her will. He was panicking as much as the Cathar and nearly dropped her, and it was only due to a Force jump on her part that she caught hold of the rim of the vent. Guilt tore into her soul, and she tried to turn back to help him only for him to be torn away from her.

“Come on!” the Cathar girl yelled from deeper within the ship’s ventilation system.

Unable to move, Joguatha watched as the human boy turned and Force-pulled the small Imperial’s gun away. The small, screechy creature made a noise at him which might have been a curse in her foul tongue and charged at him, cornering him at the end of the hall. His weak Force-push attempt was enough to stop the albino creature’s advance, and Joguatha followed up with a blast of her own which knocked the first attacker further down the hallway and out of her view. The second one walked closer as if unafraid of either of them and peered up. The look on the ebony-clad woman’s ivory face was one of sadistic glee; she grinned with an open mouth the way one might do after playing a practical joke on a dear friend who forgives, yet the two of them didn’t know each other. The presumptuous smile was downright creepy and unsettling, and only the human’s cry pulled Joguatha’s attention away.

“Get out of here!” he yelled while pulling out his tech staff.

Sadly, his training proved no match for the invader’s combat experience. The strange woman with black tattoos easily overpowered the young adult, disarming him and forcing him to his knees with his arms pinned behind his back in a matter of seconds. The smaller invader with scars on one side of her head returned, grabbing the boy by the hair and growling at him in a foreign language. Helpless in the middle of a strange sentient sandwich, he yelled for Joguatha to run away again, but she couldn’t bear to leave him alone, even if she couldn’t prevent his capture.

He fought bravely, Force-pushing and pulling his dual captors as best he could. He tried to headbutt and bite them to no avail as they restrained him, clearly intent on taking prisoners. The two obviously knew how to deal with Force-users, and the viciously elegant one knelt down and pressed an elbow to the back of his head.

“Now, get the stuff out!”

The scarred Imperial produced a sponge soaked in chemicals from a container, pressing it into the human’s face. He thrashed and screamed for the others to keep fleeing, though the sound was muffled by the sponge.

“Not directly in his mouth, not directly, I said!” the Imperial holding on to him commanded.

“He won’t hold still!”

“Don’t let it enter his mouth!”

“I’m tying, but he’s not falling asleep!”

Joguatha reached down to intervene, yet a familiar grip pulled her further into the ventilation system. Ally tried to drag her away, becoming frustrated when the Miraluka resisted. The sounds of the struggle below stopped, and Joguatha felt a strange sense of solidarity when Ally put a hand over her mouth and dragged her away inch by inch. The silence was deafening, and Joguatha writhed and struggled when her ears were assaulted by a crime that broke her clam and threatened her with emotion.

“Oh shit,” the scarred Imperial muttered nervously.

A few more seconds of tense silence ensued, followed by the angry snort of the creepy yet elegant one, who seemed to be in charge. “Bitch, do you realize what you’ve done?”

“It wasn’t my fault, he was moving!”

“Damnit, master wanted them all alive!”

Joguatha gasped so suddenly that Ally couldn’t keep a hand over her mouth. “You idiot!” the Twi’lek whispered idiotically, not realizing that her voice carried through the air vents as well.

The entire vent shook with the weight of the bigger albino woman, and both students shrieked and crawled away. They didn’t even have time to mourn the trooper and classmate who’d just died to buy them time; like rats cornered in an alley, they scrambled for any direction open to them, panting and gasping as they sought a way out.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own Star Wars.


End file.
